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Podcast

Can Story Protocol Tokenize the $70 Trillion IP Market? | Jason Zhao

Can crypto disrupt the IP Market?
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Apr 29, 2025 • 2 min read

Crypto has tried to disrupt finance, art, and even nation-states. But what if its next conquest is… Hollywood?

In today’s episode of Bankless, we sat down with Jason Zhao, co-founder of Story Protocol, to explore one of the most audacious visions in Web3: tokenizing the entire intellectual property industry. With the launch of the Story Protocol token, Jason and his team are making a play to turn IP — a $70 trillion global asset class — into something open, composable, and owned by the internet.

What is Story Protocol?

At its core, Story Protocol is an IP infrastructure layer built on crypto rails. Think Git for storytelling — but with permissionless rights, remix culture incentives, and monetization embedded directly into the protocol. It allows creators to register IP on-chain, license it flexibly, and even build revenue-sharing trees that follow derivatives and expansions — like fanfic, lore extensions, or cross-media collabs.

Story Protocol isn't just about minting IP — it’s about rewriting the rules of how IP lives, breathes, and evolves.

Why This Matters

Intellectual property is the DNA of modern media. From the Marvel Universe to Harry Potter to Fortnite skins, IP is the atomic unit of digital value. But it’s also historically been siloed, litigated, and controlled by a few centralized studios and platforms. Crypto offers an alternate future — where IP is open-source, community-driven, and global by default.

Jason paints a future where the next Star Wars could be born from a Discord community, governed by a DAO, and licensed out across mediums in real-time — all through Story Protocol.

Topics We Cover

  • Why the current IP licensing model is broken
  • How token incentives can fuel user-generated lore
  • The difference between open IP and public domain
  • Story Protocol’s go-to-market strategy (hint: it starts with Web3-native communities)
  • The future of remixes, derivative works, and fandom economics
  • Jason’s take on how AI and crypto collide in this new content frontier

Final Thoughts

If Bitcoin made money programmable and Ethereum made contracts programmable, Story Protocol is making stories programmable. Whether you're a creator, investor, or just a narrative nerd, this episode might just convince you that the next media empire could be built on-chain.

Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.

Published in Bankless

There’s a revolution in the world of money. Ethereum, Bitcoin, crypto, open finance, DeFi—a bankless revolution. And you want part of it.